Photo courtesy of www.klitschko.com and Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions. By Sean McDaniel: All week long, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) has looked timid around challenger Tony Thompson (31-1, 19 KOs), looking nervous when speaking to him in press conferences and in having to stand eye to eye with him while posing for pictures. In fact, I can’t remember Wladimir looking this nervous since his two-round blow out against Corrie Sanders in 2003.
Perhaps it’s nothing, but in the war of nerves, Thompson, 36, has appeared to easily win it, making Wladimir flinch, as if Thompson were going to punch him when the two stood toe to doe for photos. This Saturday’s fight is going to be a big departure for Wladimir, 32, who has faced mostly shorter opponents in recent years, and because of his often huge size advantage that he typically commands, he’s able to get away with jabbing on the outside and limiting the amount of punishment that he sustains.
Thompson, a 6’5″ 245 lb southpaw, known for applying a lot of pressure on his opponents and not giving them much space to breath. There’s no mystery at all with what Thompson is going to try and do in the ring against Wladimir, for if he stays on the outside and lets Wladimir dictate the pace with his better, faster jab, it would be add up to an easy loss for Thompson.
That’s not how Thompson fights, though, as he doesn’t ever let an opponent box from the outside, nor does he allow his opponents to do much on offense without making them pay for it with powerful body shots and hooks to the head. Sure, Thompson’s hand speed is particularly good, but then again he more than makes up for it by the constant punches that he throws. In fact, he’s unlike any other heavyweight in the division because he doesn’t need to reload after throwing four or five punches, and rest like the typical heavyweight.
Instead, he just keeps on throwing punches and not giving his opponent much of a chance to rest for more than a second or two. Maybe it’s for this reason, Wladimir seems so unusually afraid this week, as if he’s met someone that he doesn’t feel confident about beating. This was the case in his fight with Sanders, who at 6’4″ was able to look pretty much in the eyes of Wladimir. In the 1st round, Wladimir ran out there against him trying to throw junk shots, right hands without using a lead jab, and left hooks, also without a jab. Sanders would have none of it and quickly dropped Wladimir in the round.
By the end of the fight in the 2nd round, Wladimir was being thrown around the ring like a bird, getting pummeled by the tall, confident Sanders. In Thompson’s case, I see the same steely-eyed confidence and courage that I saw of Sanders, and along with it, I also see Wladimir, who looks like a deer caught in the headlights of an automobile, fearful, and not knowing how to get out of the way.
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